Barfa Bear Child Care Centre

• Bear ChildCare Bus Excursions: the centre has its very own excursion bus that improves learning opportunities for the older children by taking them on excursions to stimulate their creative minds. Excursions include visiting a local aged care facility, local parks, Bunnings, the library or supermarket. The children love using the centre’s bus to explore further afield.

• Sustainability program: includes activities such as gardening, worm farms, compost bins, recycling, Return & Earn program and major recycling projects. 

• Incursions: children enjoy experiences such as chicken hatching, reptile shows, and Indigenous presentations.

• Cooking experiences: the children help with meal prep, collecting ingredients from the veggie garden, and enjoying demonstrations from the centre cook. 

• School readiness program: preparing children for formal education, working closely with families and local schools.

• Munch & Move program: focuses on fresh, nutritious food for the children, as well as an outdoor physical developmental program.
  

All of the nutritious meals and snacks are prepared in house daily, following a menu approved by the NSW Department of Health’s Munch & Move program. As a Christian service, the centre celebrates festivities such as Easter and Christmas, and a Prayer of Grace is said before lunch.

The centre cooks prepare everything from scratch, such as chicken stock, fresh rich bolognese sauce, and the fruit and vegetable purees for the younger ones.  Children all bring in a piece of fruit or a vegetable to put in the basket in the foyer, to share with their friends as they learn to contribute to their community.

The children are all seated at the table with an educator and are encouraged to talk about their meal items. The children self-serve their meals, with the educators eating with the children to role-model healthy eating and manners.  The children are also then responsible for clearing their plates in preparation for compost and worm farms.

Some of the children’s favourite meals include shepherds pie, chickpea vegetable stew, chicken stir fry hokkien noodles, spinach and feta spanakopita and fish cakes with broccoli, cauliflower and sweet peas.